Three Lions Squad Strength Called 'Absurd' - Welsh Boss Craig Bellamy

• Published 60 minutes ago

Friendly match: England v Wales

Venue: Wembley Stadium, London Date: October 9th Kick-off: 19:45 BST

Craig Bellamy states England's squad depth is so impressive that matchmakers wouldn't pair them against his Wales side.

Bellamy's men face their neighbors in a friendly at Wembley on this Thursday before their crucial World Cup qualifier against Belgium next the following week.

National team coach Tuchel has left the such as Bellingham, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish out of his squad for the Wales friendly and their World Cup qualifier against the Latvian team.

"The English have a incredible team, similar to France," Bellamy said.

"England have a market valuation of £1.4bn, Wales' is 170 million. Were you a fight promoter, you wouldn't put us together. That wouldn't be permitted."

Bellamy says ensuring Wales can compete with the talented rivals is a "key motivation".

The Wales head coach continued: "Our team do not rely on values, but the reality is they don't just have one team. They have multiple and France and others are similarly stacked. They have loads of top talents and that's a fact."

"A defender was ruled out injured the recently and there are two dozen others to choose from! They've got 60-odd footballers. I wish us to be stacked similarly."

These two nations last faced each other at the 2022 World Cup in the Middle East, when the English ran out comfortable 3-0 winners in a fixture before Gareth Southgate's side reached the quarter-finals.

Southgate's successor is Thomas Tuchel, a European and world club champion at Chelsea who has won domestic titles in Ligue 1 and his native Germany.

The Welsh boss was previously an coach at the Belgian side and the English club to Vincent Kompany, who succeeded him at the German giants.

"Tuchel's an incredible manager - his achievements speak for themselves," Bellamy noted.

"I possess a degree of insight because the team he departed I know people who have gone in there. I get a bit of an insight from that of how he works and it's very impressive. "

"His strategic planning is elite and I aimed to be facing such a challenge - observe how we adjust because he adapts too. I will get to learn from it. I aspire to reach such heights."

Goalkeepers: Karl Darlow (Leeds), Davies (Sheffield United), King (the Toffees).

Backline: Ben Cabango (Swansea City), Dasilva (Coventry), B. Davies (Spurs), Kpakio (Cardiff), Lawlor (Cardiff), Mepham (West Brom), Joe Rodon (Leeds United), Neco Williams (Nottingham Forest).

Midfield: Ampadu (Leeds United), Brooks (Bournemouth), J. James (Leicester - on loan from Stade Rennais), Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Thomas (Stoke City), H. Wilson (the Cottagers), Joel Colwill (Cardiff), R. Colwill (Cardiff).

Forwards: Broadhead (the Red Dragons), Liam Cullen (Swansea City), Mark Harris (Oxford), Lewis Koumas (Birmingham - on loan from the Reds), Brennan Johnson (Tottenham Hotspur), Moore (Wrexham), Isaak Davies (Cardiff).